Ezekiel 19
1 [Yahweh said to me, “Ezekiel], sing a sad funeral [a which will be a parable] [two of the] kings of Israel.
Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,
2 Say [to the Israeli people], ‘[It is as though] [MET] your mother was a brave female lion who raised her cubs among [other] lions.
What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones.
3 She taught one of them to [for other animals to kill], and he [even] learned [kill and] eat people.
And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
4 [When people from other] nations heard about him, they trapped him in a pit. Then they used hooks to drag him to Egypt.
And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.
5 His mother waited for him [to return], but [soon] she stopped hoping/expecting [that he would return]. So she raised another cub who [also] became very fierce.
Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.
6 He hunted along with [other] [for animals to kill], and he even learned [kill and] eat people.
And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
7 He destroyed forts, and he ruined cities. When he roared [loudly], everyone was terrified.
And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.
8 So [people of other] nations planned to kill him, and men came from many places to spread out a net for him, and they caught him in a trap.
Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.
9 They tied him with chains and took him to Babylonia. And [there] he was locked in a prison, with the result that [no one on] the hills of Israel ever heard him roar again.’ [Also, say to the Israeli people, ]
They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.
10 ‘[It is as though] [SIM] your mother was a grapevine that was planted along a stream. There was plenty of water, so it had lots of branches and produced [a lot of] grapes.
Your mother was in comparison like a vine, planted by the waters: she was fertile and full of branches because of the great waters.
11 That grapevine grew and became taller than all the nearby trees; [everyone could] see that it was very strong and healthy. And those branches were good for making scepters that symbolize the power/ [of a king].
And she had a strong rod for a rod of authority for the rulers, and it became tall among the clouds and it was seen lifted up among the number of its branches.
12 [Yahweh] became very angry, so he pulled up the vine by its roots and threw it on the ground, where the [very hot] winds from the desert dried up all its fruit. The strong branches wilted and were burned in a fire.
But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.
13 Now that vine has been planted in a hot, dry desert.
And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.
14 A fire started to burn its stem, and then started to burn the branches and burned all the grapes. [Now] not [even] one strong branch remains; they will never become scepters for a king.’ That funeral song must be sung very sadly.”
And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.
